As Budgets Tighten, More People Decide Medical Care Can Wait
2:48 AM
There's a good article in the Washington Post today about patients deferring care due to the recession. The article shows that advocates for high deductible health plans are right - with higher deductibles, patients are far more reticent to incur significant costs. However, consumers are deciding against both discretionary care (twice a year ultrasound of fibroids) and necessary evidence-based care ( annual mammogram in light of strong family history of breast cancer). And physicians are spending more of their time doing financial, not clinical, triage.
Health care inflation as a cause of future budget deficit: "worse than the bailout"
2:45 AM
David Leonhardt, an economics columnist in the NYTimes, notes that the Congressional Budget Office's estimates of the future cost of Medicare and Medicaid given current medical inflation would add $900 billion to the federal budget every year. Note that the presidential candidates continue to have no serious plan that will lower health care inflation, although both have suggested that prevention can save big dollars in the future. A guest op-ed, also in the NY Times, points out the fallacy of this argument.
Bad economic times and health
4:54 PM
Interesting article by Tara Parker-Pope in today's NY Times suggesting that bad economic times might lead to improved health. As our time is worth less in monetary terms, and we have less discretionary income, we eat fast food and prepared food less, we spend more time at home, and we exercise more.
Of course, it all depends on how bad the times are, and how well you were living beforehand. When the Russian economy sank after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there was a dramatic contraction in the GDP, and a shocking decrease in the health care "spend." There was also a five year drop in the average life expectancy for Russian men, from 69 to 64.
We might all want a little more time off. And the decrease in the rate of health care inflation over the last few years is good news. None of us want a Great Depression!
